Challenges in Engineering and Consulting

What happens when a trade war meets bureaucratic red tape? In this episode, Blake and David dive into the explosive impact of 145% tariffs on Chinese goods and what it means for American businesses' bottom lines. Through real-world examples—from small retailers to tech giants like Apple—they break down how these policies could devastate supply chains and force difficult decisions for companies caught in the crossfire.

Meanwhile, the Department of Government Efficiency is shaking up the IRS, transforming a login button change from a 103-day project into a 71-minute fix. But that's not all: CPAs at private equity-owned firms are now being told to remove their credentials from email signatures and LinkedIn profiles. Tune in to understand how these seemingly separate issues reflect larger battles over professional identity, government efficiency, and America's economic future.

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• (01:40) - Weekly News Roundup
• (03:03) - IRS Updates and Controversies
• (03:59) - Private Equity and CPA Titles
• (05:08) - Government Efficiency and IRS Hackathon
• (20:08) - Tariffs and Trade Wars
• (29:19) - Impact of Tariffs on Businesses
• (47:55) - Economic Impact of Tariffs and Debt
• (48:48) - Trump Administration's Strategic Challenges
• (49:36) - Job Loss Projections Due to Tariffs
• (52:31) - China's Economic Transformation and Future
• (56:05) - Human Impact of US-China Trade Policies
• (01:00:10) - IRS Sharing Tax Information with Homeland Security
• (01:04:28) - Private Equity's Influence on CPA Firms
• (01:17:51) - Shopify's AI Hiring Policy
• (01:30:47) - Conclusion and Announcements

Show Notes

Department of Government Efficiency – X posting on re-engineering a 103-day project
https://x.com/DOGE/status/1910067646827057152

DOGE plans now reportedly include an IRS ‘hackathon’
https://www.theverge.com/news/644327/musk-doge-irs-hackathon-taxpayer-data-transfer-cloud

IRS Workers Get Final Chance to Take Deferred Resignation Offer
https://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/2025/04/07/irs-workers-get-final-chance-to-take-deferred-resignation-offer/158668/

Appeals Court Clears Path for Trump to Resume Firing ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/us/politics/trump-federal-workers-firing.html

Elon Musk Secretly Working to Rewrite the Social Security Codebase Using AI
https://futurism.com/elon-musk-rewriting-social-security-code-ai

Pentagon hits Accenture, Booz Allen and Deloitte with contract cancellations
https://www.nextgov.com/acquisition/2025/04/pentagon-hits-accenture-booz-allen-and-deloitte-contract-cancellations/404525/?oref=ng-homepage-river

Here’s the iPhone. Here’s the iPhone With Tariffs.
https://www.wsj.com/tech/personal-tech/iphone-apple-tariffs-china-bb20c7a3

Between tariffs and survival, American business owners are doing alarming math
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/07/nx-s1-5352833/trump-tariffs-china-manufacturing-businesses

At Home Group, Stung by Trade War, Explores Bankruptcy
https://www.wsj.com/articles/at-home-group-stung-by-trade-war-explores-bankruptcy-853b9a83

How Much Revenue Can Tariffs Really Raise for the Federal Government?
https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/federal/universal-tariff-revenue-estimates/

IRS agrees to share tax information of undocumented immigrants with Ice
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/08/irs-ice-tax-data

Acting IRS commissioner resigning after agency reaches data-sharing deal with immigration authorities
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/08/politics/melanie-krause-acting-irs-commissioner-resigning/index.html

Accounting firm that sold out to private equity is now requiring CPAs that work for them to stop using "CPA" on their personal LinkedIn and in email signatures
https://www.reddit.com/r/Accounting/comments/1jx2338/accounting_firm_that_sold_out_to_private_equity/?rdt=47047

Shopify CEO: No new hires, unless you prove AI can’t do the job
https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5239841-shopify-ceo-ai-first-hiring

KPMG’s new AI bot has cut interview scheduling time by almost 60% and saved more than 1,000 hours for the talent acquisition team
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/kpmg-ai-bot-cut-interview-121831887.html

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